Product Description Template
A structured document rather than a set of writing tips. It is ordered the way a shopper reads a product page — what it is, whether it suits them, whether it will fit, and what happens after they buy — which is rarely the order brands write in.
FORMAT
DOCX
CONTAINS
9 sections
LAST UPDATED
September 2026
LICENCE
Free, unrestricted
Product copy works when every claim has its evidence attached.
- The thinking
Write in the order the shopper reads, not the order you think
Most product copy opens with brand story and arrives at dimensions somewhere near the bottom, if at all. Shoppers do the opposite.
They want to know what it is, whether it suits them, whether it will fit, and what happens if it does not. Brand story matters, but it lands after those questions are answered rather than instead of them. This template is sequenced accordingly.
- Opens with what the product is and who it suits
- Puts the specification in a table rather than a paragraph
- Has a section for the objection most copy avoids
- States delivery and returns near the buying decision
- Ends with the SEO fields, so nothing is written twice
The pre-writing section asks for your return reasons. They are the cheapest product research available and they name precisely what your current copy fails to explain.
A description that answers the return reasons pays for itself twice: once in conversion, once in returns.
- What is inside
Nine sections, in reading order
Each has bracketed prompts to replace and a line of italic guidance to delete once you have used it.
Before you write
Three questions to answer in one sentence each. If you cannot, the description will not land because you are still guessing what the customer needs.
- Who it is for, and who it is not for
- The one question that stops people buying
- What the returns and reviews already tell you
Title and opening line
The two pieces of copy most people read and most brands write last. The template has you write the opening line after everything else.
- Title formula: product, defining attribute, variant
- One sentence stating what it is and who it suits
Specification table
Eight attribute rows, each with a note on why a shopper cares. Blank specification fields remove you from filters and comparisons.
- Dimensions, weight, material, capacity
- Compatibility, care, warranty, origin
- A reason attached to each, for internal buy-in
The objection section
A dedicated place to answer the doubt most descriptions avoid. Addressing it directly converts better than pretending it is not there.
- State the objection plainly
- Answer it without marketing language
- Usually the highest-value paragraph on the page
Delivery and returns
Three fields, placed near the buying decision rather than buried in a policy page.
- Delivery window and cost or threshold
- Returns window and conditions
SEO fields and final check
Five SEO fields with guidance, then a five-point check to run before publishing.
- Primary keyword, meta title, meta description
- Image alt text and URL slug
- A pre-publish check written for a phone screen
- The structure
The nine sections in order
So you can judge whether it matches your process before downloading.
Section
What it produces
Who usually fills it in
Before you write
Three sentences of positioning
Merchandiser or owner
Product title
The title, in a repeatable format
Copywriter
Opening line
One sentence doing the work of the page
Copywriter, written last
Benefit paragraph
Claims with evidence attached
Copywriter
Specification
A complete attribute table
Product or buying team
What is in the box
A contents list
Product team
Objection section
A direct answer to the main doubt
Whoever reads the support inbox
Delivery and returns
Three factual fields
Operations
SEO fields
Keyword, meta, alt text and slug
SEO or copywriter
Splitting the document across roles is deliberate. Specification data written by a copywriter guessing is where most catalogue errors begin.
- Common mistakes
What goes wrong with product copy
Three patterns that appear in almost every catalogue audit we run.
Publishing supplier copy unchanged
If your description also appears on forty other retailers, you are asking a search engine to choose between identical pages and a shopper to choose on price. Rewriting the top hundred products is usually worth more than any technical SEO project.
Adjectives without evidence
Premium, durable and high quality are claims a shopper discounts automatically. The same sentence with a number in it — a thickness, a capacity, a test standard — is persuasive and checkable.
Leaving out the boring attributes
Dimensions, weight and compatibility feel like data rather than copy, which is why they get cut. They are also the most common reason a product is returned, and the most common question in support inboxes.
Write the description a shopper needs, then check it against your return reasons. The gap between the two is your next revision.
DOWNLOAD
Product Description Template — DOCX
Nine sections with bracketed prompts to replace, a specification table that explains why each attribute matters, and the SEO fields most briefs forget. Opens in Word, Google Docs and Pages.
FORMAT
DOCX document
SECTIONS
9, plus a pre-publish check
TABLES
Specification and SEO fields
LICENCE
Free, commercial use
No email address, no sign-up and no watermark. The italic guidance is meant to be deleted as you fill each section in.
- Questions
Product description template FAQs
What people ask before and after downloading.
How long should a product description be?
Long enough to answer the questions that stop somebody buying, and no longer. In practice that is shorter for a simple consumable and considerably longer for a considered purchase. Length is an output of the template rather than a target you set beforehand.
Can I use this for marketplace listings?
The thinking transfers and the format does not, because marketplaces impose their own structures and character limits. Use the Amazon listing checklist for that, and this template for your own store.
Should the same person fill in every section?
Usually not, and the template is laid out so it can be split. Specification data belongs with the product or buying team, the objection section belongs with whoever reads the support inbox, and the copy belongs with a writer.
What about AI-written product descriptions?
They are fine for a first draft of the benefit paragraph and unreliable for specification, because a model will confidently invent a dimension. The sections in this template that carry facts should come from your product data, whoever or whatever writes the prose around them.
Does unique copy really matter for SEO?
It matters most where you compete against other retailers selling the identical product. When forty listings share the same supplier text, the copy is not what differentiates you, and the page with genuinely unique content and better structured data is the one with an argument for ranking.
Will it open in Google Docs?
Yes. It is a standard DOCX with no macros, so Word, Google Docs, Pages and LibreOffice all open it with the tables and headings intact.
How many products should we rewrite?
Start with the products that already get traffic and convert badly, then the ones that get traffic and no conversions. Rewriting a whole catalogue alphabetically is how these projects stall in the Bs.
Can you write these for us?
Yes, product copy at catalogue scale is part of creative and content, and the briefs we work from are a fuller version of this document.
- Keep reading
Related resources
Where to go next once the copy is written.
INSIGHT
What the page around the description has to do, and the four elements that get attention without earning it.
CHECKLIST
Forty checks on product page, basket and checkout, ordered by where revenue usually leaks.
TEMPLATE
Decide which keyword each product page should own before writing the copy for it.
A catalogue of supplier copy?
A free eCommerce audit tells you how much of your catalogue is duplicated across other retailers, which products it is costing you on, and where rewriting would pay first.